Showing Community and Society

31 Jan 2009

One of America’s greatest songwriters is now a senior citizen. Harps and Angels shows that Randy Newman is not a retiring 65 year-old, in any sense. Be warned: this American does have a keen sense of irony. If you enjoy mordant wit, Newman’s musings on mortality {with particular reference to his own and to ‘the end of an Empire’} will make you laugh out loud; the music itself is also amusing ... and deliciously rich. However, if Short People fooled you into thinking prejudice was Newman’s pleasure rather than target, you will be much happier with some other sweeter, simpler songster.

30 Aug 2008

One of the 20th century’s greatest American songwriters is now in his 65th year. He is still writing great new songs in the 21st century. Harps and Angels shows that Randy Newman is not retiring ... in any sense. Be warned: this American does have a keen sense of irony. If you enjoy mordant wit, Newman’s latests musings on mortality {with particular reference to his own and to ‘the end of an Empire’} ought to make you laugh out loud; the music itself is also amusing ... and deliciously rich. However, if Short People made you angry and fooled you into thinking prejudice was Newman’s pleasure rather than target, you will be much happier with some other sweeter, simpler songster.

22 Sep 2007

Tsimba Itsoka is Oliver Mtukudzi’s new CD. The Shona phrase means ‘there is no footprint without the foot’. The man known as ‘Tuku’ has long been his compatriots’ best-loved, most respected Zimbabwean musician. The West has more recently ‘discovered’ him. Tuku resolutely avoids partisan politics, but stays true to his credo: ‘in my culture you don’t get to sing a song if you don’t have anything to say.’ To borrow a Western phrase, Tuku ‘walks the walk’ - he seeks to help his listeners/fellows, not merely to profit from them.